


Eleven Years' Time

by lodessa



Category: Journeyman
Genre: Angst, Foursome, Incest, Infidelity, M/M, Sibling Incest, Slash, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-22
Updated: 2011-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 21:02:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/300011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lodessa/pseuds/lodessa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The tension between Dan and Jack reaches a new level...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eleven Years' Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bessemerprocess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bessemerprocess/gifts).



In Dan's mind, it starts with the Angelica Vazquez murder investigation. One could argue that it started in 1997. It could also be argued that it started way earlier than that. But Dan believes it is in 2008, when that adorable little eight year old girl shows up horrifically murdered.

Dan is supposed to be interviewing the mother, and of course Jack keeps getting in his way. Well, to be fair he has to admit that it isn't just Jack. Dan has been traveling a lot. Back in the '60s he is trying to nudge an expecting mother out of suicide, until after all the preliminary interviews should have been completed. But Jack isn't making it any easier. Dan doesn't know why, but he really thought that having Jack believe him would change things. He thought that maybe it would make Jack want to help him out, instead of making everything more complicated than ever. It isn't. Jack always frames it as an issue of professionalism or whatever, but Dan knows it for what it is... a power trip.

Even when they were kids. Jack always had to remind Dan that he was older, knew more, was in charge. Dan is sure it is the same thing now. Katie changes the subject when he brings it up. Or she tries to pacify him, which sometimes is worse. He would blame her for it, if he was in any way better at dealing with the relationship between Katie and Annette. But he never dated Annette; he doesn't have any reason to know. He knows it is not fair, but then again so little is at this point. Katie ends up interviewing the mother and he almost feels like he is cheating putting his name on bylines when she is doing most of the fieldwork these days.

"We're a team" she tells him.

He pretends to agree. He buys her a new set of diamond studs. He is appropriately appreciative. He never mentions the snide remarks he thinks of whenever Jack comes up, and it seems like Jack always does come up.

He never even mentions it to Livia. Somehow that feels like it would be a betrayal. So he tows the family line. Everything is fine. No, it is totally not weird that he is married to Jack's ex or that Jack has to play husband and father as he is gone for days and weeks now, no longer minutes or hours. He is appreciative. Jack is a model big brother, cleaning Dan's messes up and covering for him. Livia doesn't call him on it. Maybe she even believes it after all this time. But that half smile she always wears tells him she will never forget that drunken night he went mad with some preoccupation that she simply had to be fucking his brother, no matter what she said. There are a lot of things he said that night that he isn't proud of. He was shitfaced and way down after a night of cards. It isn't any better of an excuse than "I was in 1973" turns out to be.

But this isn't about Livia. It isn't about Katie. It is about Jack. It seems like it always is. Everyone, including Jack, seems to think that everything is about Dan. Everyone claims that their mother loves him more, for instance, but Dan knows the truth. All the pretense, the hugs and the attention, are a cover for a deep seeded knowledge that in her heart Jack will always come first. Firstborn, first heartbroken, first, first, first. Katie saw that once, but she quickly forgot it. Life seems to be be that way. Dan's gambling, Dan's marriage, Dan's uncontrollable time travel, they all become about how they affect Jack. They all become about how Jack feels about them.

Even that one night... None of them talk about it (well he and Livia did but that was Before) but Dan doesn't think he is the only one who remembers. In fact he is pretty sure that Katie remembers more clearly than he does and just refuses to talk about it... like she refuses to talk about so many things. So he is left on his own, and in Dan's own memory it is all about Jack. That one night. It doesn't come up for over a decade in conversation, which is weird all things considered. Jack said a lot of things when Katie and Dan started dating, but he never mentioned that one strange night. Dan's belief is that he is saving it for a special fight grows stronger with every opportune moment. Just like their mother. She never goes out and insults you when you are expecting it; the sneak attacks come just when everything seems fine.

So here is how it happened, as Dan reckons. It was back in '97 and the four of them came back to Dan and Livia's place. They were all completely trashed after a night at some bar that has long since closed. It never would have happened otherwise. Katie, if no one else, would have gracefully extricated all of them from the mounting tension of dares taken way too far. But she started it all that night.

"I know a trap when I see one." Jack slurred.

"And I don't see what is in it for me." Dan interrupted.

"Katie and I will make out." Livia offered; Katie shrugged noncommittally.

"What are you afraid of, little brother?" Jack smugly added, "Afraid that once she gets a taste of me, she'll never want to go back."

"Hey..." Dan's punch missed Jack's shoulder and ended up in the couch, "who are you calling little..."

Then Katie crawled across the rug (she was in her skirt and bra thanks to earlier drunken suggestibility) and grabbed the back of his head. Before he knew what was happening, her tongue was down his throat.

Jack choked on the bourbon he was drinking directly from the bottle he had grabbed from Dan's liquor cabinet without asking.

"Fair is fair." Livia laughed, and leaned back into Jack's lap.

Time stopped for a moment, and was forever burned into Dan's memory. In all reality, the kiss probably only lasted a few seconds, but it seemed like a lifetime.

Dan was jogged back into reality by Jack, "I believe I was promised some lesbian action." he smirked.

Livia's smile was the one that always preceded some really terrible idea, "In the interests of all fairness. I believe you boys will have to even things up in that case. Don't you think, Katie?"

Dan hates when women starts conspiring. They always win and you always lose. Still, he was going to object. Jack would definitely object. I mean, they were men. They were totally straight. They were brothers.

But instead his brother leaned over and kissed him sloppily on the mouth. It didn't occur to Dan until later to notice from the taste that Jack had been gulping down his good bottle... again! Jack hadn't shaved in a couple of days and his face was rough against Dan's face but if felt sort of nice through his dulled drunken senses. Later Dan had told himself that he only kissed him back so as not to be upstaged again.

He doesn't even really remember the girls' kissing. He does remember that from there it became a weird sexy version of twister and that at some points he wasn't sure whose hand was where. He remembers Katie and Livia making out with one another between his legs, during a break in giving him a joint blow job. He remembers drunkenly fighting for dominance with Jack, to see who could make the other one explode first (they were both far too drunk to actually do so). He remembers comparing Katie and Livia's reactions to various form of stimulation. He remembers the face Jack made when he was too far gone for sarcasm.

That is the story of how Dan had a foursome with his wife, his ex-fiance, and his brother. The only person he talked to about it, since he stopped being with Livia, was himself. It was not a topic of discussion during Dan's argument with Jack about how Jack was blocking his access to the family of Angelica Vazquez on a rainy February afternoon in 2008. It was, in fact, not even on Dan's mind.

"I am just doing my job here, Dan. Why do you have to see everything I do as some sort of personal attack."

"Because it is. You are obviously still mad at me because Theresa lost faith in you due to my time traveling problem. Look, I'm sorry. I liked Theresa and I would have been thrilled to have her in the family. I just don't want to see you drown yourself in the bottom of a bottle over this."

"I'm fine really. I am just trying to do my job. Not everything is about you."

"I'm worried about you, Jack."

"Don't be. I can take care of myself. I didn't even want a kid, okay?"

"Jack..."

"Just go, Dan."

And he did, right back into 1997. By the time he gets back, he is late to dinner and Katie has convinced Jack to let her ask the family for some snapshots to add the his article. Once again, his wife is doing his job. She doesn't seem to mind, but he does. Zack is asleep. Katie, being perfect and understanding again, tells him he should go find his brother. She is worried about him. Dan bites back the accusations that always spring to mind whenever he and Katie discuss Jack. He is the one who needs to be apologetic, not her.

Dan finds Jack at the bar, into the double digits with his drinks.

"Are you going to buy we another or are you going to try and lecture me again?"

"Which one are you hoping for?" Dan forces a grin.

"Well, if you insist on being annoying I could punch you..." Jack starts.

"Another for my know it all older brother..." Dan sighs, "And a beer for me."

"A beer?" Jack laughs, "No. My brother will have a G&T with whatever cheap ass gin you have back there."

Dan sits down on the bar stool next to his brother.

"Thanks for letting Katie get those pictures..." he starts.

"Let's not start tonight, Dan. I don't want to hear how you think that I only said yes because I am trying to get back in your wife's pants."

"Fine then... I was trying to be nice. But it does seem really odd to me that you won't let me do my job but you bend over backward to help Katie do it. Real knight in shining armor right?"

"If I wanted to steal your wife, don't you think I would just let you fuck it up on your own. You do a great job of that without my help."

"Here we go again. You are mad at me about something I can't control and so you are going to act like a martyr. You aren't responsible for me, Jack. I can take care of myself."

"And yet you are the one constantly calling asking me to break the rules to help you out. Without me looking at confidential files, half of your stories would never be written. Face it Danny boy, I'm still running interference between you and mom for Christ's sake."

"Nobody asks you to. Just like nobody asked you to sacrifice things with Theresa for me."

"Damn it, Dan. No one needs to ask me to stick up for my little brother. Like it or not, we are family and I always have your back. Period."

"Like the time you tried to have me committed?" Dan doesn't intend to say but does.

"For your own good. And I apologized for that."

"You know what. If you want to screw your life up, that's your business. I just don't want you blaming it on me."

"Just shut up and drink your drink. You are way behind."

So Dan does. Katie was the one who told him he should probably go find Jack, after all. After an unspecified number of stiff drinks, they manage to hail down a cab back to Jack's. Jack is reminiscing about the time that Dan ate way too much junk food at a fair as a kid and threw up all over dad's new car. Dan counters with the time that a teenage Jack showed up to Thanksgiving dinner completely trashed and Dan had to run interference so that Grandma Vasser didn't find out. It is almost as if they are getting along again.

Of course Dan ruins the moment, "If something were to happen to me, though" he starts, "I'd rather it was you that helped Katie pick up the pieces. At least I know that you love her, even if you are a complete asshole."

"Ugh. I forgot how girly gin makes you."

"Oh really, Mr. I Am So Glad You Are My Brother".

"You know what. I am never saying anything nice to you again."

Dan manages to pay the cabbie as Jack fumbles with his keys. Upstairs, they work on a bottle of vodka until Dan gets drunk enough to forget not to bring up the Theresa issue again.

"Let it go, Dan. I am never going to hang you out to dry. Not for any woman. Not for Theresa. Not for Katie. Not even for our own mother. I just wish you would trust me more."

"I have trust issues, Jack. Blame dad if you want."

"That is lazy, Dan; you know it is."

"What? We never talk about anything, real. We fight and fight but we can't manage to discuss something as obvious as that goddamned orgy that we all had back in '97."

"What the hell are you talking about, Dan?"

"Don't pretend you don't know. I cannot for the life of me figure out how you have resisted throwing that foursome that Katie started back at me through all of the guilt tripping you have played because she ended up with me."

It has never occurred to Dan that Jack might actually not remember. The memory of Jack's booze coated lips all over Dan's body is something that is indelibly written in Dan's memory. He has always assumed that Jack wasn't talking about it as some sort of tactic or out of embarrassment, like Katie. The thought that he might really not remember is lonely.

"Are you sure you really aren't crazy? Or is this one of your weird time travel past changing episodes?"

For a moment Dan has to think about that. After all, it is possible. But thinking isn't really a strong suit at the moment and the next choice Dan makes is to lean in and try to use sense memory to remind Jack what he is talking about. Jack still tastes like alcohol. Then Dan's head starts to pound and he is drunkenly falling against an alleyway. He is unbelievably drunk, missing his wallet back at Jack's, and it's the middle of the day. Today's time traveling adventure involves running from the cops (he once again has ended up without his vintage cash), helping the same woman from '63 who is now a major player for reproductive rights advocacy avoid a scandal, and "borrowing" some clothes from his past self. Dan really wishes this was a trip that Livia was along on. He could use someone to talk to.

Katie finds him passed out in their bed, two days after he left to go find Jack at the bar. He has missed the talent show at Zack's school and Hugh has left him twelve messages asking him about the Angelica Vazquez story. Dan quickly uses Katie's notes to type something up for Hugh, and goes to pick Zack up at school and apologize. Through it all he is in a daze. He is thinking about Jack, about both of their downward spirals. Dan knows that it is a close contest which of them is more likely to end up dead in a ditch. His traveling is getting worse. Jack's substance abuse and hardheaded denial is at an all time high. He is also thinking about how Jack tastes, the way that he vacillated between forceful and unsure when kissing Dan, here in 2008 and back in 1997. What can Dan say to him?

Getting ready for bed later, Dan broaches the subject of the 1997 foursome with Katie and she tries to brush it off like always.

"Dan, it was a lifetime ago I was dating Jack. I chose you."

"Katie, this isn't about competing with Jack. I need to know if something has changed in our past. Last time I changed things, the whole situation turned out really really bad."

Katie sighs, "Fine. Yes, I remember that night. I wish I didn't. It is embarrassing. Looking back I realize how obviously I was into you even back then. The whole thing was such a transparent ruse to get a taste of what you would be like. I am surprised that Livia went along with it."

"So you do remember it."

"Yes. Please, honey let's just forget about it."

"But what about Jack? Do you think he was lying?"

"Do we really have to talk about Jack? I mean what does it matter now?"

"It matters. Can't you just trust me on that?"

"Fine. We both know that Jack has a drinking problem. Hell, that is one of the reasons I dumped him. It is entirely possible that he really did blackout that night. Have you talked with Livia about this?"

"Back then, yes. I was kind of a jerk. I... well I accused her of having a thing for Jack, even of having an affair with him."

"Seriously?"

"I'm not proud of it."

"Dan, I still don't see why this matters now. Livia is gone. We are married, I thought happily."

"I guess it shouldn't. I just..."

Dan can't express exactly why this is such a big deal to him. So he settles for apologizing, but before he can do so, he gets dragged back to 1997. He knows he is supposed to find the woman he has been tracking, but he is possessed by the idea that he needs to stop the orgy from happening. It is the day it will happen, May 22nd. Maybe Jack doesn't consciously remember it, but Dan is sure that it is affecting things nonetheless. So he goes off script; Livia would be furious if she was here. He calls Jack and convinces him to do some research for a story Dan is not really writing. If he can keep Jack from going out with the rest of them, the foursome will never happen, and maybe Dan will be able to forget it eventually. That he will be the only one, other than Livia, for whom the experience will not change does not occur to him.

Unfortunately, as he is heading to Jack's office, he happens to run into his target and before he knows it he is crashing back into 2008.

He goes to see Jack, anyway. It is barely past dawn and Jack is angry at him for waking him up.

"Contrary to popular belief, the world does not actually revolve around you, Dan."

"I wanted to apologize about the other day."

"Do you have any idea how hard keeping quiet about that night with the four of us has been, Dan? how much it has been eating me inside?"

"But you said..."

So he has changed the past, but not the way he meant to. The foursome still happened; Jack just remembers it now. Dan isn't sure how he feels about this. He really doesn't know.

"When I showed up that night, after helping your ass out with that story, I was really behind you guys... so I really don't have much in the way of excuse for my choices that night. But do you know what the hardest part has been, Dan? It has been thinking about it, remembering it. Do you have any idea what it is like to have the sensation of sucking off your own brother burned into your memory. I am sure that for you it is some laughable escapade or the first time you saw your future wife naked... but that isn't what I remember clearly."

"Jack, I don't even really remember much about what Katie and I did that night. What I remember is you. That's why I got so incredibly crazy accusing Livia of having an affair with you. I couldn't get the memory of everything you did out of my mind, not just with Livia but well you know..."

"Great. So we are both scarred about it. That is just wonderful. We can change our theme or family dysfunction from 'my daddy left' to 'I did some gay experimentation with my brother'. What an improvement!"

Then Dan is assaulted by Jack's hands and mouth and he forgets that he is mad at Jack or maybe he remembers and they roll back onto Jack's bed in a flurry of skin and tongues and Dan's shirt is ripped open and his hand is inside Jack's boxers. And the way Jack moans against him is as gratifying and the way he winces when Dan digs the nails of his other hand into Jack's back. Dan is barely conscious of anything other than Jack's heart beating against him and how hard he himself is.

Then Jack's cell rings and that breaks the trance and Jack dresses quickly while on the phone with work and leaves without saying anything. Dan goes to follow him but is dragged back to that same day in 1997. He decides, for a change of pace, to try to stay on mission so that he can get back to 2008. He estimates that he is only gone for an hour. However, he returns to Katie sobbing. Jack has been shot.

On the way to the hospital, Dan learns that Jack ran off to a suspect's home without backup that morning and that the man had a gun. Dan knows that it is his fault that Jack was so careless. If they hadn't been... hadn't been whatever it is they were doing. Dan knows, Dan knows that it is his fault that his brother has a chest wound. Going off task and changing your own life never works out well. He should know better. Livia does. Livia warned him, and after what happened last fall he should have learned on his own. The doctors don't know if Jack is going to wake up. This is all his fault. Dan insists on staying by his bedside, but of course time travel refuses him this wish.

He is surprised to be back in 1997 after the lights flash. He is even more surprised to still be in that same May day. He has to change things. He can't let Jack get shot. Jack may be an asshole and a pain in Dan's ass but Dan loves his brother and he knows that Jack really only ever has his best interests at heart. He is the one who married Jack's girlfriend. He is the one whose time traveling is derailing all of their lives, even if it isn't his fault. So he tries a different tactic. This time he goes straight to the station and convinces Jack to get off early to drink with him. Jack is passed out at home, long before the foursome is scheduled to take place.

Dan nervously awaits his return to the future. The minutes feel like hours.

Katie seems confused by his mentioning that he is going to go see Jack, "Really, I mean you two haven't talked in years?" she replies.

Panic runs through Dan. Much as he always tells Jack not to try and take care of him, he has never imagined a present in which they aren't talking. When their dad stopped coming home in the evenings, Jack would let Dan crawl into his bed to wait up for him. When Dan was a teenager, Jack finished the fights Dan started. Jack has always been there for Dan. Dan feels lost without him. When he tried to keep Jack from getting shot, he never thought it would mean losing him. He tries calling Jack, going by his apartment, bothering him at work. Nothing seems to have the slightest effect. He feels desperate. He knows that Jack is better off not shot, but other than that it does not seem like cutting off his little brother has benefited Jack. He is still single, drunker than ever. He never even got promoted into homicide.

Worse yet. Dan doesn't travel at all for a good two weeks.

When it finally happens, it is a surprise. Dan finds himself in June of 1997. Livia is there with him. He confesses everything to her.

"I was never sure why it was that you were so weird about that night. I mean we had a lot of crazy nights." Livia muses.

"I have been upset with Jack most of my life. But I am starting to think it wasn't for any of the reasons that I thought."

"This is a little weird even for me. Are you saying that you are gay for your brother?"

"I don't know. I just know that I have never been able to get that night out of my head. I just know that sometimes I fantasize that it is Jack in bed with Katie instead of me and that it doesn't exactly turn me off. Maybe I really am going crazy now."

"Was this going on when we were together?"

"Sometimes. It was worse after that night. Why do you think I was so fixated on you having a thing for him?"

"I am so glad I am not your wife right now."

Dan puts his face in his hands, "Why now?"

"You know what I am going to say."

"That I shouldn't have messed with my own timeline..."

"It is a little late for that" Livia laughs, "You might as well go see what you can do to put things back together. I will go check on your target."

Dan breathes a sigh that might be relief or might be apprehension. He heads towards Jack's apartment and lets himself in with the spare key that this time actually is hidden where he remembers. While waiting for Jack to get back, he goes over what he might say. This Jack never experienced that orgy, he hasn't felt betrayed by Katie choosing Dan over him, he hasn't seen Dan fall apart after Livia's "death". What can Dan say or do that will help them weather all the big life events that are going to tear them apart? He isn't really sure.

Then Jack walks in the door and his pleasure at seeing Dan overrides all of the canned speeches that Dan had planned. He runs towards Jack. The next thing he knows he is pressing Jack against the door frame, bruising his lips against his brother's, smashing his body against Jack's. After a moment of shock, Jack seems to come alive and he holds Dan's face in his own hands and kisses him back. It is so different from the way they battled in 2008. Dan lets Jack lead him back to the couch as they begin the process of undressing each other. Dan feels a moan escape his lips as Jack's mouth traces its way down his stomach, Jack's hands working his pants open.

Later, while they are lying amongst their far strewn clothes, Dan falls asleep in his brother's arms and wakes up in bed with Katie. He isn't sure whether he is relieved that changing the past hasn't destroyed their marriage or worried that things with Jack are still broken. He can't get back to sleep and instead he lies awake thinking about what is happening with Jack and why it is suddenly so important to resolve it. He is pretty sure that he should be feeling a lot worse about what just happened back in '97. How is his past self going to react if Jack brings it up? What is Jack going to think if his past self doesn't say anything about it. It can only be one more stain for the family to cover up. Instead, though, he feels exhilarated. He can't wait to find Jack. It is after midnight and Dan sneaks out in search of his brother.

Jack is cold and standoffish when Dan finds him at the bar at last. He is drinking scotch instead of bourbon, which is always a terrible sign.

"Katie sent you?" Jack assumes.

"Can't a man want to see his big brother?"

"Not when he is you."

He answers Dan's inquiries about everything in monosyllabic brevity or with sarcasm. It turns out that now Jack doesn't even still have his job. His alcoholism and self destructive tendencies have left him unemployed and bitter. Dan has to assume that he has made this happen, that Jack's increased dysfunction is his fault. He never should have brought Jack into whatever messed up issue he is having now. He is not sure what to say or do. It has been eleven years instead of an hour for Jack. Would bringing it up now just make things worse? What has he said to his brother in a revised past he doesn't remember. Time traveling is leaving him increasingly out of the loop with memories that don't match up with the rest of the world.

"Will you let me call you a cab?" Dan offers.

Jack ignores his and heads out the back door. When Dan follows him into the alley and presses himself against his brother in need, Jack responds with a feverish violence, crushing himself against Dan and nearly choking him with his intensity. His nails rake against Dan's skin and the way he pulls at Dan's hair as he thrusts into Dan's open mouth is rough and rage filled. Dan feels he deserves this. He has turned his brother into this. Maybe, without Dan tagging along all of his life, Jack's life would be better.

It is only later that Dan notices Jack choking back grief filled tears. He tries to comfort him but Jack insists that eleven years later is too late. He turns his face away from Dan's. Dan wants to force him to look him in the eyes. He wants to apologize, to explain. He doesn't know what to say though. He doesn't know why they both need this. He doesn't know why it is happening now. He wants Jack to tell him it is going to be alright. Jack is the big brother. He is the one who convinced Dan there weren't any monsters under the bed. He is the one who helped Dan believe he would survive the first girl who ever broke his heart. Dan doesn't know how to be that person for Jack.

Worse yet, Dan feels the headache coming, feels that his departure is imminent. He let's out a cry of frustration. It seems like he can never finish a conversation without vanishing into thin air.

He can hardly believe it though, when he comes back to June of 1997, only a day after he disappeared from Jack's apartment. He spends two hours pacing and trying to figure out how to reverse the destruction of Jack's future. What would always be a complicated situation (Otherwise why have they been fighting one another all of their adult lives?) is being made impossible by time travel. Telling the Jack of '97 would probably not work out any better than his initial explanation to Jack in '07. If he doesn't tell him, though... well the Dan of '97 is going to have no idea where his brother's behavior is coming from.

When he finally comes up with a plan, it is with great apprehension that he goes looking for his brother. It turns out that Jack has called in sick from work, and is instead working on a bottle of bourbon. He lets Dan in silently.

"Jack I..."

"I get it. This is where you tell me it was a mistake. Let's skip the pleasantries, and try not to tell Katie that your brother is a pervert."

"This is where I tell you that I will always care about you, and I don't know what the other day means but I still mean it. I want you to know that whatever happens after this, that was real... more real than anything else. I can't tell you what it is going to be like next time we see each other. Jack, I can't explain. You won't believe me. Some weird stuff has been going on that would make you try and institutionalize me if I told you right now. So here is a letter that you can open after I leave. Once you see it, maybe you will believe."

He presses the letter in Jack's hand and hopes that once he inevitably disappears from Jack's apartment, Jack might possibly consider that maybe Dan really is time traveling from the future... bizarre as that still sounds.

"Stop talking in riddles, Dan. Seriously, you should start writing fiction. Not everything is a conspiracy theory."

So Dan stops talking, he pins Jack down and proceeds to commit himself to what he doesn't fully understand but seems to be the root of every fight the two of them have ever had in any version of the past or future. This Jack is arrogant and dismissive and he wants to control everything... but he is not broken yet. Dan has missed him. Dan wonders how it is that in all the years of fighting and addiction and bailing one another out of terrible situations, this has never happened before. It is messy; it is most certainly wrong, and he doesn't know what he is going to do about explaining it to Katie. Nevertheless, somehow it feels like something he needs... something he has always needed.

They are still exploring each other's bodies when Dan's headache begins again; he manages to grab his phone but he still ends up naked on a quiet residential street. Okay, so maybe that was not the best thought out part of Dan's plan. Then again, he has sort of half expected them to just argue and maybe for Jack to throw him out of his apartment. He hides behind a dumpster and contemplates what to do. Katie is not going to understand... provided that he is even still married to her. She is definitely going to think it was Livia. He is not really sure how he would explain the truth either, even if she would believe it. Nor does he know what his relationship with Jack is looking like after all of his interference with the past. After all, none of the changes he has made to his own past have ever worked out well. Still, even when Dan married Jack's girlfriend, destroyed his relationships, and almost got Jack fired... Jack has always been there for him.

Dan looks down at his phone and decides to play Russian Roulette with a call to Jack.


End file.
